Chapter 285

"Simon, since you don't feel the story just now, what about this: Denny is an awe inspiring policeman outside, but he grew up like a mouse who saw a cat in front of his harsh and irascible mother. One day in the process of duty, Denny met his favorite girl Teresa, the two soon fell in love. However, Denny is worried that her mother will not be satisfied with Teresa. She is very careful in getting along with her girlfriend, so she makes a series of jokes

In the office.

John Hughes gave Simon several story ideas in a row, but Simon didn't say anything.

After John Hughes introduced another idea, they discussed a few words, Simon pretended not to say: "John, I think uncle Buck's box office performance should be very good, so do you want to make a more pure children's film?"

John Hughes thought of something terrible and shook his head: "Simon, children's movies have always been a forbidden area in Hollywood. I deeply realized this point in the process of shooting uncle Barker this time. Those little guys made me suffer a lot. Sometimes I want to change people. So I really don't want to go through it again. "

Uncle buck tells the story of Russell and his wife who have to temporarily give their three children to their bachelor brother buck Russell because of some family changes.

According to the original agreement, "Uncle buck" is in the charge of John Hughes. Simon didn't pay much attention to the production process. He didn't expect such disputes.

As we all know, children and animals are the two most difficult elements in Hollywood movies.

Simon heard what John Hughes said and understood why he didn't have the idea of "kid in charge of the house" again.

In the original time and space, John Hughes should cooperate with the three little actors in Uncle buck very happily, especially Macaulay Calkin left a deep impression on him, which led to the birth of the subsequent "kid in the house". However, in the new version of Uncle buck, the three actors are no longer the original actors, and have brought John Hughes a lot of trouble in the shooting process. In a bad mood, it's hard for the filmmaker to think of another children's film.

After confirming that "home is a kid" has been completely knocked out, Simon stopped beating around the Bush and said, "it's actually a children's film idea that I produced after watching the sample film of Uncle buck. John, I think this project is very suitable for your style. In addition, the ideas you just introduced also give me some inspiration, just like that young man and woman during their vigil at a convenience store The story of meeting two thieves. So, how about making another children's film? If you don't want to be a director, you can let others be responsible for it. The salary scheme you get in this project can refer to Uncle buck. However, this time danielis entertainment also needs to be involved in the project decision-making, especially the casting

In the "Uncle buck" contract originally negotiated by the two sides, John Hughes, as a screenwriter, director and producer, was awarded a base salary of $5 million plus 10% of the North American box office share.

John Hughes is a very smart man.

Simon westero was inspired by his film, which is also Simon westero's idea. Looking at the box office results of Simon westero's films in recent years, just the recent "sixth sense", the box office in North America hit 300 million US dollars.

What's more, with reference to Uncle Buck's $5 million base salary plus 10% of the North American box office share, John Hughes is not one of those directors with strong personality. He knows he's just a film businessman, so he can't think of any reason to refuse.

"So, Simon, can you tell me more about your idea?"

Seeing that John Hughes agreed almost without any hesitation, Simon also began to elaborate the general plot of "the kid in charge".

As for returning the project to John Hughes, and maintaining the North American box office sharing scheme of $5 million base salary plus 10%, Simon has nothing to give up.

John Hughes as the main creator can ensure the "original" of the new version of "kid in charge". Moreover, if the new version of "kid in charge" can achieve the amazing box office results of more than 280 million US dollars in North America, John Hughes is fully entitled to take the salary of 30 million US dollars.

In a word, this decision is also influenced by Simon's recent change of ideas.

In fact, the truth is similar to the recent 10 foreign film cooperation plans. If we blindly pursue to maximize profits, all the profits will fall into Denise's entertainment pocket, Hollywood filmmakers will not have much incentive to cooperate with Denise's entertainment.

The two discussed for about an hour, and the meeting ended.

John Hughes then decided to stay in Los Angeles for another week in order to continue to communicate with Simon and write out the outline of the story of "home by a kid".

After the weekend, after some detailed discussions, Denise entertainment and fox jointly held a press conference to announce the project of the first film of the 10 film plans, sleeping with the enemy.

Sleeping with the enemy is an original novel of the same name written by a woman writer named Nancy price in 1987. After the novel appeared on the market, its fame and sales volume were not big. After Fox's script Department won the adaptation right at a low price of $150000, it has been shelved.After the announcement of this project, the original novel sleeping with the enemy, which was previously unknown, immediately attracted the attention of a large number of media. The sales volume of the novel increased rapidly, and the publishers had to print it urgently.

Then, August 16, Wednesday.

Denise entertainment and Disney jointly held another press conference to announce the approval of the second of the 10 film plans. The new project is called "the hand shaking the cradle". It is also a classic thriller in Simon's memory. It tells the story of a housewife disguised as a nanny after her husband committed suicide and miscarriage to retaliate against the family that caused her family tragedy It's a matter of time.

Similar to sleeping with the enemy, the hand in the cradle is also not well-known, and it is also the script of Amanda srvo, a female screenwriter.

The difference is that "the hand shaking the cradle" is not an original novel, but an original script.

In addition to the confidentiality measures taken by Denise entertainment and Disney Company, the media can only guess the content of the story of "shaking the cradle's hand" based on some scattered information.

It is no accident that the two plays are not well-known.

Those well-known copyrights that are highly valued by various film companies will not be shared with danielis entertainment, just as Simon will not co invest with other studios in "kid's house", which has been quietly approved. Most of the projects that can be sent to Simon are not well-known or have uncertain prospects.

The following Friday, August 18.

Denise entertainment and Warner Bros. held a third press conference to announce the third film in the 10 film plan, which is also Simon's expected another "blockbuster", called "the end of the world.".

The story is adapted from a TV play of Warner Brothers, which tells the story of a surgeon whose wife was killed and who tried to get rid of the injustice after being framed.

In the original space-time, "the end of the world" starred Harrison Ford, with a global box office of more than 360 million US dollars. However, compared with the next year's schedule of the first two projects, Simon also explained to Warner from the beginning that the project would start shooting next year, and the earliest schedule was the summer program in 1991.

Because, according to Simon's plan, the schedule in 1990 was too crowded.

In Simon's memory, danelis entertainment accounted for five of the 1990 box office blockbusters, including pretty girl, ghost, dancing with wolves, ghost and Ninja Turtle.

According to danielis Entertainment's established plan, "pretty girl" will be released during Valentine's day in February next year, "ghost" and "Ninja Turtle" will be released in the summer of next year, and "dancing with Wolves" and "little ghost at home" will be released at the end of next year.

If the production of "the end of the world" starts now, because it is a big budget movie, unlike "sleeping with the enemy", which can be quickly prepared and filmed, the schedule can only be arranged at the end of next year, which will collide with "dancing with the wolf" and "the kid in charge of the house", two films with box office potential of 200 million.

In my memory, the box office of "the end of the world" in North America exceeded 180 million US dollars, reaching 200 million level. If three box office blockbusters are squeezed at the end of the year at the same time, they will lose all three. Simon confirmed that there will not be enough room for three local films with a box office of 200 million at the end of the year.

What's more, the corresponding schedule is certainly not only these three films, so the competition will only be more intense.

Warner understands Simon's decision, but still hopes to announce the news immediately, because it will be good news for Warner and boost the stock price.

After Paramount's sudden move in June upset the stock exchange and merger agreement that time and Warner Bros. were about to negotiate, the original plan has now been completely abolished. As long as we can win Paramount's lawsuit to prevent the merger of time and Warner, the two sides need to renegotiate the merger plan.

Time company has also put forward a new M & a plan with half cash and half stock, but the specific price has not been finalized.

Now, Warner's share price has risen by one more point, and time will have to pay one more point next.

Indeed, Warner Bros. shares rose 2.1% before the afternoon close.

Meanwhile, the box office data of the new week from August 11 to August 17, the end of the summer season in North America, were officially released.

Uncle Barker, written and directed by John Hughes himself, has 2021 screens and the box office revenue in the first week is $16.94 million, ranking the first.

Uncle Barker's $8000 or so is not as hot as expected. With a box office close to US $17 million, the total box office in North America should be between us $50 million and US $70 million. Denise Entertainment's original forecast is quite the same, which is also in line with the previous box office level of Hughes films.

Taking into account the $5 million base salary taken by John Hughes at the beginning, the production budget of the film is only $15 million. Although Hughes will have to pay another $5 million to $7 million at the box office, danelis entertainment will be able to make a profit at the box office."Psychic Sixth Sense", also produced by danielis entertainment, still ranked second on the list in the seventh week of release, with another $16.71 million.

At the same time, the total box office of this phenomenal horror film in North America officially broke through the $200 million mark, reaching $211.06 million.

Although the opening of a family comedy "warm family" starring Steve Martin by Universal Pictures is not obvious, it has never won a weekly box office champion, but the box office curve is very beautiful, with a drop of only 22% this week. When it enters the fourth week, it will receive another $11.66 million. Unconsciously, the total box office of the film has reached $47.32 million.

New line's "ghost Street 5" opened with 1902 screens this week, with a box office of $11.1 million in the first week, lagging behind "warm family" by a narrow margin, ranking fourth on the list.

James Cameron's "abyss" fell 39% in the second week of its release, only closing at $10.69 million, ranking fifth with a total box office of $28.22 million in two weeks. There is no hope that the film will return to the original, and fox's executives continue to worry.

In addition to the top five on the list, a number of other popular summer movies have entered the closing stage.

The box office of sixth sense in North America has exceeded US $200 million, and it is obviously expected to hit US $300 million. As a result, three film projects announced by Denise entertainment and three Hollywood partners have attracted much attention.

In fact, Simon has identified more than three projects, such as Terminator 2, which fox has started to contact with the copyright owners, and a project of Columbia Pictures. Samsung pictures, a Columbia subsidiary, resolutely gave up Matthew Broderick some time ago. Simon was not indifferent.

However, Sony's acquisition negotiations for Colombia have not been completely finalized. Compared with the merger and acquisition of time and Warner, because all aspects have begun to close, Colombia, which has been in poor performance in recent years, has no other competitors jumping out to compete with Sony. This acquisition is almost certain. Sony has now begun to take over all aspects of the operation of Columbia Pictures. The decision to abandon Matthew Broderick is a takeover under Japanese pressure.

After danielis entertainment communicated with Colombia about Simon's selected project, Sony's negotiation team hoped that danielis entertainment would postpone the announcement of the results, so that Simon's favorite project would be a "good start" after Sony won Colombia. Naturally, danielis entertainment would not mind cooperating.

Film companies began to invest in various projects, at the same time, many Hollywood talent agency companies also began to pet.

Except for CAA, of course.

In the second half of last year, dannilis entertainment had a quarrel over Rain Man. In this year, many of dannilis Entertainment's key projects were created without CAA stars. In the two summer programs, Kevin Costner, the hero of bodyguard, is an artist under ICM, and Whitney Houston, the heroine of bodyguard, has been signed by wma. As for the sixth sense, including Robert De Niro, Yiying's main and supporting roles are all wma customers.

It's not a big deal.

CAA's stars don't lack a film contract.

However, with the announcement of danielis Entertainment's 10 foreign film cooperation plans, CAA all felt very obvious pressure.